The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-140881, filed on May 12, 2000, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ball-game-type game program for controlling players and the ball in a ball-game-type game, a computer-readable recording medium on which such a program is recorded, and a ball-game-type game processing apparatus and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, in sport games, not only are one-against-one confrontation games available, but also multiplayer against multiplayer confrontation games such as tennis, soccer, basketball, American football, and baseball are available.
To advance such a sport game, it is necessary to input manipulations through a manipulation unit (a manipulation panel, a keypad, or the like) that is provided in advance in an arcade machine or a game-dedicated machine (e.g., PlayStation (trademark) manufactured by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. or Dreamcast (trademark) manufactured by Sega Enterprises, Ltd.).
In general, the manipulation unit has multiple keys (or buttons) and a joystick. In both sport games and role-playing games, a manipulation system is formed by a limited number of buttons and joysticks on the manipulation unit. Naturally, games can be realized on personal computers. Where a keyboard is used, keys necessary for manipulation of a game are assigned to keys of the keyboard.
In ball games such as baseball, soccer, and basketball among sport games, usually the movement of the ball itself cannot be manipulated by buttons or a joystick. Instead, it is possible to manipulate the movement direction and the force of the ball indirectly by a user""s manipulating the movement of a player with respect to the coming ball.
In a baseball game, when the batted ball goes toward the shortstop in a state that no runner exists, it is possible to cause the shortstop to catch the ball if the shortstop is located in a movement range where it can catch the ball. If a manipulation for instructing to throw the ball to the first base is input by a user at the time of a catch, the ball is thrown by the shortstop to the first base. If the first baseman has already covered the first base, the ball thus thrown is caught by the first baseman. In this manner, it is possible to command, by a user""s input of a manipulation (button manipulation), where to throw the ball when the shortstop has the ball.
This type of technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2502473. This patent discloses a technique in which a base as a throwing destination of the ball is determined in response to a user""s button manipulation after a judgment that a fielder caught the ball and the ball is moved to the determined base.
Conventionally, as exemplified by the technique of the above patent, a manipulation to command a movement destination (a base in the patent) of the ball is input when a player (a fielder in the patent) has received (has caught in the patent) the ball. Therefore, a user needs to carefully watch the player receive the ball to recognize the moment of the reception.
Therefore, in a baseball game, there may occur a case that a user who is not accustomed to manipulation cannot input a manipulation immediately when a fielder has caught the ball and hence loses a chance of putting the batter or a runner out.
Further, in the case of a user who is not accustomed to manipulation, there may occur a case that a manipulation input is not accepted though he has already determined a throwing destination before a fielder catches the ball. This type of poor performance of manipulation may impose stress on the user.
Although a detailed description has been made of a baseball game, similar problems may occur in other ball games such as soccer, basketball, tennis, American football, and ice hockey.
An object of the present invention is to provide a ball-game-type game program, a computer-readable recording medium on which such a program is recorded, and a ball-game-type game processing apparatus and method which can improve the balance between the movements of displayed players and the ease of operation of a user in a ball-game-type game, to thereby realize smooth development of the game.
To attain the above object, a first aspect of the invention provides a computer-readable recording medium on which a ball-game-type game program for realizing a ball-game-type game in which movements of players and a ball on a screen are controlled, the program causing a computer to execute: accepting input of a manipulation by a user before a player receives a ball; judging, in response to the input of the manipulation by the user, a direction in which the player should move the ball; and displaying motion of the player of moving the ball in the judged direction.
A second aspect of the invention provides a computer-readable recording medium on which a ball-game-type game program for realizing a ball-game-type game in which movements of players and a ball on a screen are controlled, the program causing a computer to accept input of a manipulation by a user before a player receives a ball; when the input of the manipulation by the user is accepted before the player receives the ball, judge, in response to the input of the manipulation by the user, a direction in which the player should move the ball; and display motion of the player of moving the ball in the judged direction. The motion starts from a state before the player receives the ball.
A third aspect of the invention provides a ball-game-type game program for realizing a ball-game-type game in which movements of players and a ball on a screen are controlled. The program causes a computer to accept input of a manipulation by a user before a player receives a ball; judge, in response to the input of the manipulation by the user, a direction in which the player should move the ball; and display motion of the player moving the ball in the judged direction.
A fourth aspect of the invention provides a ball-game-type game program for realizing a ball-game-type game in which movements of players and a ball on a screen are controlled, the program causing a computer to accept input of a manipulation by a user before a player receives a ball; when the input of the manipulation by the user is accepted before the player receives the ball, judge, in response to the input of the manipulation of the user, a direction in which the player should move the ball; and display motion of the player moving the ball in the judged direction, the motion starting from a state before the player receives the ball.
A fifth aspect of the invention provides a ball-game-type game processing apparatus including a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for realizing a ball-game-type game in which a movement of a ball is controlled indirectly so as to conform to a movement of a player; a computer for reading and executing at least part of the program; and a display for displaying the ball-game-type game realized by the program. The computer, by reading the at least part of the program from the recording medium, accepts input of a manipulation by a user before a player receives a ball; judges in response to the input of the manipulation by the user, a direction in which the player should move the ball; and displays, on the display, motion of the player moving the ball in the judged direction.
A sixth aspect of the invention provides a ball-game-type game processing apparatus including a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for realizing a ball-game-type game in which a movement of a ball is controlled indirectly so as to conform to a movement of a player; a computer for reading and executing at least part of the program; and a display for displaying the ball-game-type game realized by the program. The computer, by reading at least part of the program from the recording medium, accepts input of a manipulation by a user before a player receives a ball; when the input of the manipulation by the user is accepted before the player receives the ball, judges, in response to the input of the manipulation by the user, a direction in which the player should move the ball; and displays, on the display, motion of the player of moving the ball in the judged direction, the motion starting from a state before the player receives the ball.
A seventh aspect of the invention provides a ball-game-type game processing method for realizing a ball-game-type game in which movements of players and a ball on a screen are controlled. The method includes accepting input of a manipulation by a user before a player receives a ball; judging, in response to the input of the manipulation by the user, a direction in which the player should move the ball; and displaying motion of the player of moving the ball in the judged direction.
An eighth aspect of the invention provides a ball-game-type game processing method for realizing a ball-game-type game in which movements of players and a ball on a screen are controlled. The method includes accepting input of a manipulation by a user before a player receives a ball; when the input of the manipulation by the user is accepted before the player receives the ball, judging, in response to the input of the manipulation of the user, a direction in which the player should move the ball; and displaying motion of the player of moving the ball in the judged direction, the motion starting from a state before the player receives the ball.